Author Topic: Tap for getting honey out of hive? (Read 35742 times)

Dallasbeek · « **Reply #20 on:** February 20, 2015, 09:43:59 pm »

Don't get me wrong, now. i respect you, but why do you extract where the bees can smell the honey? I have some old comb in my garage and if I leave the garage door open, there's a bee checking things out in just no time. I don't want her going home and bringing back a bunch of her sisters to take that comb away from me. So I finally just put that comb in the freezer and left it there.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 21, 2015, 06:07:04 am »

Thanks Mike, Dallas and G. I like the idea that bees cap it before you pull it. I am surprised that the bees will uncap it after it is empty because I often find cells that are capped even though they are empty.
Jim

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 21, 2015, 06:21:42 am »

Quote from: rober on February 20, 2015, 06:24:14 pm

where were the bees in the video? those pancakes would have had bees as well as honey on them under normal circumstances. when I'm extracting they stalk the extracting area within seconds when I start uncapping frames.

River,
If you extract during ta good flow, the bees hardly notice all that honey. I once moved a feral hive in a truck tool box into my apiary and then a month later took it completely apart. I had to pull the top off and had lots of open honey everywhere. Even though I had at least 12 other hives within inches and feet of that box, there was no robbing. If there had not been a heavy flow on it would have been a real disaster. Just pulling supers with Bee Quick during a dearth causes serious robbing by the time I get to the second super.
You might try doing your extracting at night. They will not bother you at night if you do it far enough away that they do not see your lights.
Jim

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 21, 2015, 06:45:08 am »

I just check my email and received the following information from Flow Hive.

Thanks so much for your interest in the Flow hive. We (Cedar, Stu and our whole beekeeping family) are so excited to be letting you and the world know about the invention we have been working on for over a decade. The response has been quite overwhelming, thanks for all the amazing comments. We are working as fast as we can to complete a video that will show you all the details about the technology.

We want to tell you a little more about the Flow frames/hives, how they work, what we think this will mean for beekeeping and where we are at with producing them.

How do the Flow? frames work?

The Flow frame consists of already partly formed honeycomb cells. The bees complete the comb with their wax, fill the cells with honey and cap the cells as usual. When you turn the tool, a bit like a tap, the cells split vertically inside the comb forming channels allowing the honey to flow down to a sealed trough at the base of the frame and out of the hive while the bees are practically undisturbed on the comb surface.

When the honey has finished draining you turn the tap again which resets the comb into the original position and allows the bees to chew the wax capping away, and fill it with honey again. The Flow frames are inserted into standard bee supers (boxes) in much the same way as standard frames, however the box itself is modified by cutting two access doorways in one end.

When the frames are inserted, the ends of the frames now form the end of the super. This allows access to the operating slots and honey pipe outlets.

You can see into the hive

Each Flow frame is designed with a unique transparent end allowing you to see into the hive. This means you can watch the bees turning nectar into honey and see when each comb is full and ready. Both children and adults get excited seeing the girls at work in their hive. Importantly you will be able to keep an eye on colony numbers thus giving you early detection of any problems within your hive.

rober · « **Reply #24 on:** February 21, 2015, 11:49:48 am »

no. I'm extracting in a building 300 ft from the hives. but-when I start uncapping within seconds they are at the windows & doors trying to get in. my question though is why aren't there any bees in the video?

gww · « **Reply #25 on:** February 21, 2015, 12:42:37 pm »

What are the odds of just using a fume board and transfering the whole super to a honey room and doing the exstraction as you would with an extractor only strait into your honey jars?
Would this get rid of some of the extra equipment cost and robbing issues?
Cheers
gww

Michael Bush · « **Reply #26 on:** February 21, 2015, 12:45:57 pm »

>where were the bees in the video? those pancakes would have had bees as well as honey on them under normal circumstances. when I'm extracting they stalk the extracting area within seconds when I start uncapping frames.

In a dearth, yes. In a flow, no. I think it was a mistake to show that as everyone seems to focus on it. I made a bucket lid with a hole just big enough for the tube so no honey is exposed. I see no reason to expose any. I think their point was that you don't disturb the hives so you don't have a lot of curious bees in the air.

>my question though is why aren't there any bees in the video?

There is no disruption of the hives and so there is only the traffic at the entrance, not a lot of bees flying.

Kathyp · « **Reply #27 on:** February 21, 2015, 03:18:08 pm »

Quote

Man, you mean you extract where the bees can get to your area?

I do it in the kitchen and the bees cover the screen while i work. that'll make you patch the screen without delay!!

This looks almost to good to be true. what a time saver if it works as advertised!

Michael Bush · « **Reply #28 on:** February 21, 2015, 06:24:31 pm »

Reality always has it's gotchas... but it does work.

nella · « **Reply #29 on:** February 21, 2015, 08:38:37 pm »

In one segment of the video it looked as if the jars had white plastic lids on and they must have had a hole in the lid for the tube to go through. That should keep the bees away while the extraction is happening.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 21, 2015, 08:44:47 pm »

The site goes active Sunday night at 7:00 PM EDT which is 11:00 AM Feb 23.
Jim

DMLinton · « **Reply #31 on:** February 22, 2015, 08:41:48 pm »

Wow! FlowHive fundraising started on Indiegogo less than 15 minutes ago and they are already at 211% of their $70,000 USD target.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive

Bee-Haven · « **Reply #32 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:20:50 pm »

Did you contribute at all? I wouldn't mind getting my hands on some of those frames. The idea that you can forego all the extraction and processing portions for only 350 bucks is not bad at all.

I wonder if it would benefit to stack 2 flow deeps? I don't know all that much yet,but it almost seems to good to be true.

DMLinton · « **Reply #33 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:34:02 pm »

I was contemplating contributing but, first, they were already far past their target and, secondly and more importantly, I am unwiling to spend another $400 USD per hive on unproven technology. I am shooting for 100 hives in the near future (this year or next) so that would be $40,000 USD (or about $50,000 CDN). Plus shipping. That kind of money would buy an aweful lot of labour and conventional extraction equipment. Especially when there remain a lot of unanswered questions such as how will these frams fare from year to year and what kind of maintenance will be involved. Even to put down $400 bucks for an evaluation set is not very appetizing.

I think it is a very, very promising technology but I need a little more real life performance data before choosing to put out that kind of money. My hives complete with frames are costing me around $125-$150. So the FlowHives for me are a lot like looking at caviar and champagne for lunch.

Technically, they could be stacked but I think that, for commericall or semi-commercial apiary, the business case could would be hard to build. If someone were just keeping a couple of garden hives, it could all make sense.

Maggiesdad · « **Reply #34 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:41:01 pm »

Dang - $700K now!

DMLinton · « **Reply #35 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:47:02 pm »

Yes, unblievable, isn't it. I am very happy to see these guys get more than ample capitalization.

sc-bee · « **Reply #36 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:49:05 pm »

Make that over 750k looks like 1 mil is well in sight....

DMLinton · « **Reply #37 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:51:03 pm »

Quote from: sc-bee on February 22, 2015, 09:49:05 pm

Make that over 750k looks like 1 mil is well in sight....

Yep, and it only went live less than two hours ago. Wonder how that choice of a 42 day fund raising period is looking.

BeeMaster2 · « **Reply #38 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:55:04 pm »

Did anyone get to the point that they tell you the shipping costs are to the east cost of the U.S.?
Jim

DMLinton · « **Reply #39 on:** February 22, 2015, 09:57:06 pm »

All I got was that they intend to manufacture in the USA due to the great response from there. I am in Canada so shipping will be huge no matter how I slice it.